Restaurant review: Columbus Brewing Company

In the drab days before a trickle of microbreweries would improbably gush into a macro small-batch splash-fest, drips of a world-class suds movement were tapped here by a rare and founding father-y breed of early believers. These malty pioneers operated in a primordial and thankfully extinct world of recreational drinking in which the average tippling citizen found the notion of “Columbus craft beer” harder to swallow than his belovedly cheap and simple Corporate Lite lager. Against long and sobering odds, though, some of the hopped-up revolutionaries — including the bold Columbus Brewing Company — not only persevered, but thrived.

About a decade after its unceremonious founding in 1988, an ambitious Columbus Brewing Company relocated and joined ranks with a same-named new brewpub that instantly became popular for mod Brewery District architecture and food good enough to proudly be served with CBC’s stellar beers. This inspired sip and sup hook-up (the restaurant and brewery are separate businesses) is currently celebrating its 15th anniversary.

And with that, it’s time to sound a bell signaling the end of history class and the beginning of happy hour. In other words, time to bolt for CBC’s alluring happy hour deals and new, often Asian-inspired, warm-weather-appropriate menu items.

Happy hour brings a cost-cutting chance to slam CBC’s seasonally perfect and funnily named Summer Teeth beer or, say, its famously crisp IPA, with fermented barley-compatible appetizers (happy hour starters are about half-off at $5 apiece, and beers are discounted a dollar). From these, though the fried and Thai chili-sauced Hot and Sour Calamari might better be described as hot and sweet, it’s an easy-to-like golden oldie.

More distinct is CBC’s Hummus Plate. The coarse dip, which is unusually enriched with sesame oil, is served with hefty wedges of puffy and toasty housemade pita plus scene-stealing and fresh-tasting homemade giardiniera.

A Black Tiger Shrimp Stir-fry ($17) hit similarly nutty, semi-sweet and veggie-laden notes. Like the aforementioned Chilled Noodles (and for that matter, the nachos), this vitamin and fiber-filled mound of good and plentiful shrimp, brown rice and crisp and colorful vegetables benefited greatly from jolts of CBC’s own hot sauces (made locally by CaJohns).